Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 143 - 117. Evil Spirit Mansion

Chapter 143: 117. Evil Spirit Mansion

Azure Star, West Fourth District, 4 p.m.

Shelter P-205.

Mingji Humanitarian Headquarters Laboratory.

"Alert! High Energy Invasion! Warning! High Energy Invasion—"

The incessant alarm was silenced by a thrown flying dagger that shattered it, stopping abruptly along with the flashing red warning lights, rendering the atmosphere increasingly tense.

Li Aozi and Du Zexin passed through the gate, greeted by dozens of special biochemical soldiers.

Compared to the previous factory assembly line products, these guards stationed before the ’treatment room’ of the Ersha Infected Individuals were obviously more elite, armed quite plentifully.

In addition to some heavy armored units carrying 20mm caliber heavy machine guns, unleashing alloy storms at them with suppressive fire, there were even invisible snipers who loaded depleted uranium jacketed armor-piercing bullets into anti-matériel rifles, shattering Du Zexin’s mobile cover in one shot.

Beyond that, there were some commanders with white armbands on their arms, making the reaction speed of the other biochemical soldiers exceptionally fast with these guys around.

With ammunition rapidly depleting, Du Zexin holstered his Magnum Burst Energy Gun and turned to use a live ammunition rifle to shoot.

"The professor is deliberately wearing down our strength," he said.

Du Zexin ducked into cover and threw out two Kamikaze drones that accelerated into the crowd and exploded, the violent shockwave instantly flipping five or six biochemical soldiers to the ground.

Li Aozi seized the opportunity, activated [Iterative Movement], and teleported through the hail of bullets, his long sword sweeping out in a diagonal cut that cleaved through the neck of one commander. Taking advantage of the moment they turned to aim their guns, he teleported again to the sniper’s position and grabbed the sniper’s head in one hand. [Directed Blast] pulverized the brain inside the skull in an instant.

Du Zexin did not follow the path of a turret-focused [Mechanic], influenced by the traditional thinking of Azure Star; his mechanical creations were some drones and electronic bee swarms.

These biochemical soldiers did not use chip processors; he could not upload a virus to hack them, so he had to eliminate them one by one in the most foolish way.

Li Aozi rolled to the ground, barely stabilizing himself. He sat behind wall cover at the other end of the corridor and threw a flying dagger, killing a sneaky biochemical soldier. Annoyed, he said, "This must be the professor’s last army. Give me some more time, and I can finish all of them off."

No sooner had he spoken than a grenade exploded beside him.

Boom!

The gravitational field opened just in time, deflecting a significant portion of the blast. A piece of shrapnel that came too close grazed past Li Aozi’s face mask, which, if not for the fashion’s trait of invulnerability, would have surely injured and marred his face.

"Damn, shit!" Li Aozi cursed.

"These guys have tactical awareness that exceeds that of Frost Plated’s professional soldiers. They are extremely quick to react. Unless we have armored units, we can’t push through," he said.

Busy fighting, Du Zexin didn’t even bother to look at Li Aozi’s clothing issue. He flipped his VK rifle over his shoulder and fired a burst. Aided by AI correction, 31 bullets precisely hit the same spot on a heavy armored machine gunner’s helmet, and with the penetrative force accumulating to its peak, it shattered the ultra-strong aramid fiber and titanium plate, with the steel core bullets piercing the brain inside the skull. The heavy-armored soldier broke down on the spot, his heavy body fixed by the armor, standing dully in place.

Du Zexin was conservative in his estimate.

Li Aozi had just poked his head out to throw a flying dagger when he was suppressed by gunfire and ducked back into cover.

The shooting skills of this group were in no way inferior to professional shooters. In his memory, only the no-recoil deep learning self-aiming plugins could achieve such results.

Even Du Zexin could not guarantee his own armor could withstand depleted uranium armor-piercing bullets—depleted uranium was self-sharpening, with strong armor-piercing capabilities, and upon penetrating armor it would create thousands of degrees of high temperature, causing damage to the [Mechanic]’s vulnerable body.

They were blocked.

Li Aozi glanced at the equipment Du Zexin had scavenged, and clearly Du Zexin did not expect to encounter such a vast number of enemies before coming out.

Almost 800 fully armed biochemical soldiers, not to mention the dozens of elites; Du Zexin figured it would be no problem for Mingji to take down a border city.

"So this is the Scary-level difficulty."

Li Aozi grabbed a lull in the gunfire and immediately teleported out, pouncing on a few riflemen. His body couldn’t withstand 6.8mm bullets tearing through, and after a successful hit, he fled far away.

"Damn it, what a nuisance!"

Li Aozi landed on the ceiling and ran fast, moving to dodge bullets relying on his unique ability to change direction in mid-air.

This hummingbird-like reflex was almost impossible to predict and figure out a direction for; the riflemen’s anti-air was almost ineffective against him and even the stray bullets that managed a lucky graze were deflected by the gravitational field.

To bring down Li Aozi, the biochemical commander immediately ordered the soldiers to converge, concentrating fire density in the hope of hitting that elusive target jumping around in the air.

This gave Du Zexin an opening. He hurriedly holstered his rifle and charged forward with an acceleration.

[Peak Moment Military]

These biochemical soldiers might not have chipset plugins, but the commander locked onto the high-speed moving figure at a glance. As Du Zexin pounced into their ranks, the soldiers linked with the commander’s mind had already raised their guns.

Ratatatatata—

The rifle had only just fired when Du Zexin had already charged into the crowd, directly tossing the two assembled liquid fuel canisters from behind his waist onto the ground.

Crack!

Liquid fuel splattered in all directions, scattering among the crowd.

He then activated the anti-gravity system dismantled from the Thriving Ones, leaping high into the air in an instant.

"Now’s the time, Leo!"

At that moment, Leo’s figure crisscrossed with his in midair.

Du Zexin raised his hand and threw a thermite grenade, the canister opening to release a spray of red iron oxide and aluminum powder into the air.

Leo spread out his palm, igniting a dazzling white light.

[Midday Splendor]

Boom------------!

The blinding fireworks burst in the air, the persistent white light fully ignited the liquid fuel on the ground and the thermite in the air. The Biochemical Soldiers were instantly engulfed in a downpour of fire, the carbon fiber armor on their bodies burnt and curled up, the fats and flesh inside corroded and permeated by the aluminum and iron powder, their entire bodies instantaneously set ablaze from head to toe.

The air immediately filled with the foul stench of charred flesh; most Biochemical Soldiers had their neural signals cut off in an instant, standing dumbfounded in the sea of fire, motionless, leaving only their high-temperature bent metal skeletons and fire-resistant outer clothing.

"It’s hard to imagine, this biochemical troop’s combat prowess has already far surpassed the professional soldiers of Frost Plated. If such troops could replace humans, perhaps it would greatly reduce personnel casualties—"

Underneath the face armor, Du Zexin’s expression was extremely conflicted.

If Mingji Humanity could afford to maintain such Biochemical Soldiers, then wouldn’t the Frost Plated military, being a state instrument of violence, be able to afford them too?

Frost Plated’s military expenses accounted for 11.7% of all expenditures, 3% more than education. If troops like these were to replace humans—what a severe wave of soldier unemployment would ensue!

It was well known that enlisting was one of the most common ways for farm families to change their fate. If even this path was cut off, Frost Plated’s already distorted society would be thoroughly doomed.

According to Du Zexin’s memory—Frost Plated currently had over 400,000 contract soldiers.

They mastered violent skills and had one or two dangerous military prosthetics implanted in their bodies. The thought of them entering society due to unemployment was harrowing; Frost Plated’s crime and murder rates would explode in an instant.

The Bounty Hunters born from the slums, with their organized and disciplined military training, would be devastatingly outmatched. They would become the top gangs in each city. Proficient in destruction and occupation, they could easily become warlord lords on their own turf.

Yet, the advantages were so blatantly obvious.

Compared to machines, humanoid Biochemical Soldiers were more covert, less likely to attract attention. Just by donning helmets, they would be more easily accepted by civilians than mechanical beings.

There were no computer programs controlling their bodies, so there was no risk of being hacked, ensuring loyalty.

For a moment, he even doubted whether the path of the [Biochemist] was the right one.

The technology of Azure Star was not that advanced; people did not have such rich imaginations about the prospects of extraordinary powers.

Some were obsessed with virtual technology, human-machine interaction, Mechanical Ascension, yearning to carry their lonely souls in immortal machinery, completely abandoning their frail bodies.

Others unswervingly believed that gene editing and grafting along the path of carbon-based life forms was humanity’s future.

They could not imagine the future because the path to the starry sky had been obscured by Ersha’s red and black clouds.

Du Zexin was momentarily perplexed. This confusion stemmed from a scientist’s struggle and doubts about whether the direction of their research industry was correct.

The dispute between machinery and bioengineering had never ceased, symbolizing human intellect’s mechanical creations and the flesh and blood bodies that reigned at the top of the food chain on this planet. Whichever prevailed would be a massive impact on human thought and society.

"It’s not that terrifying."

Leo downed a pouch of concentrated glucose into his mouth, his powerful digestive system quickly restoring his Arcane Energy and strength.

He glanced at the corpses of the Biochemical Soldiers and said:

"Not to mention the exorbitant maintenance costs of such Biochemical Soldiers and the humanitarian issues involved in their production that preclude their widespread deployment, just consider one thing: [Biochemists] study flesh and blood bodies—since they are carbon-based life, there’s one fundamental weakness."

Maybe there were many on Azure Star smarter than him, but none more visionary.

From a cosmic perspective, if Biochemical Soldiers were really that effective, wouldn’t all cosmic civilizations develop bio-engineering vigorously, replacing manual and mechanical forces?

Clearly not.

Because a body of flesh and blood is, after all, just flesh and blood; its strengths are intricacy, agility, and a stronger adaptability, but its weaknesses are too apparent.

Du Zexin was taken aback, then soon came to a realization.

He lowered his head, standing with Leo above the ground, looking down on the ground covered by a red sea; about twenty Biochemical Soldiers stood among it, their flesh burned clean, brains vaporized, leaving only their composite metal skeletons, illuminated in stark dark gold.

"Fire."